Father arrested after 9-year-old crashes car into tree (with map)

A Cleveland father was arrested after his 9-year-old daughter crashed a car into a tree when he let her drive in a Painesville Township parking lot on Sunday.

At 8:13 p.m. the Lake County Sheriff's Office responded to the parking lot of Headland's State Park at 9692 Headlands Road for a car that crashed into a tree. When deputies arrived on scene, they found a purple four-door 1998 Honda with extensive front end damage. said Chief Deputy Frank Leonbruno in a news release.

Deputies learned a man, 23-year-old Jaron McGee, let his 9-year-old daughter drive the car while he was in the passenger seat. The child lost control of the car "after achieving excessive speed" and drove into a large tree, said Leonbruno.

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Other family members took the child from the scene before deputies arrived, but told authorities she was not injured. The Sheriff's Office is following up to make sure she is uninjured, he said.

McGee was not injured, but he was arrested for child endangering and wrongful entrustment, both first-degree misdemeanors. He was also held on one felony and one misdemeanor warrants from other jurisdictions.

McGee is scheduled to appear Monday in Painesville Municipal Court at 1 p.m.